Safety in Jeopardy
by collegefangirl18
Summary: When a dysfunctional marriage leads to worse problems at home, Trudy accurately suspects far more is to come. Will she and her four brothers be able to find a solution to their problems, even when a sibling is kidnapped?
1. Chapter 1

Every day, my four brothers and I walk home from school together. We could take the bus, but we prefer to walk so we can stop by the abandoned arcade and theme park on our way. The place went out of business about ten years ago. I remember going there all the time when it was still open. My brothers and our cousins and I would go with our parents and spend the whole day there. We loved it.

We were devastated when it shut down, and annoyed when someone started the rumor that it closed because it was haunted. Of course, it wasn't haunted, but when no one knows why a place closes, they usually go with haunted. Now nobody ever set foot on the property, except my brothers and me. We knew it wasn't haunted.

To be honest, it was still super fun even though it was closed. A lot of the arcade games didn't work, but we still loved going there. Our parents didn't, but we did.

More had shut down that year than just the arcade/theme park. Our parents' marriage shut down big time. They came close to divorcing, but because they couldn't agree on custody rights for my brothers and me, they decided to deal with each other, at least until we kids were older. Nothing improved, though.

Mom is never happy anymore. She acts like she hates us. My brother Dally says she _does_ hate us, but I don't think so. She's our mother. How could she really hate us? But she sure acts like it. She yells at us all the time and makes us do every single bit of housework except for the cooking. She gripes about every little thing we do wrong, and I think she even hit my brother Ponyboy for getting a B on a paper. I don't know for sure though. I almost wouldn't put it past her. Almost. I still have hope.

Gosh, is she a changed woman. On top of treating us like dirt instead of her own children, she's always frustrated in general. Never once since the almost divorce have I seen her genuinely happy. Oh sure, she gets excited when she wins an argument with Dad or hurts his feelings, but she isn't truly happy. And she drinks. And she's insanely moody. So she's always either mopey or angry or both. Or drunk. It kinda sucks.

And Dad? He's changed, too. He really loved Mom, I think, but once their marriage started going downhill, things got pretty tough on him. I think if it weren't for us kids, he would leave her. I think she hates him more, and he would really be divorcing her for her sake. She wants a divorce, but they can't get one if they can't agree on custody rights.

Dad still tries to be a good father, but he's so caught up in his own life that sometimes it's hard for him. I believe he is trying his best. It's just that the company he works for is struggling and he has a bad relationship with mom. And his problem is that he's a people-pleaser. He wants Mom to be happy, but she's so demanding and so rude to him that it's exhausting for him to please her. He also wants to make his five children happy, but, well, with five kids and a busy life, it's kind of hard to maintain strong relationships with each of your children or to spend time with all of your kids together. So I understand.

I understand Dad's sadness a lot more than Mom's. Dad 1) has to deal with a grouchy, bossy wife all the time, 2) feels like he's failing as a father (even though he'd never say so), and 3) is in a job where people are getting laid off left and right, creating a ton of stress for him. So yeah, he's gonna be exhausted and sad fairly often. But Mom? She gets her way all the time and hardly does any work because she has five kids to do it all for her. But I know she's just struggling, too. This is hard on all of us.

My brothers are reacting differently than I am, for the most part. Like I said, I have four brothers. Their names are (in chronological order) Two-Bit, Dallas, Johnny, and Ponyboy. I was born in between Johnny and Ponyboy.

Two-Bit is a wise-cracking prankster and very protective of me, Johnny, and Pony; he doesn't need to be protective over Dally. He's the best older brother a girl could ask for. Sure, he gets drunk all the time, but honestly, his humorous personality makes it hard to tell when he's drunk and when he's sober. He's a big sweetheart and he loves everyone. But if you hurt someone he loves, he'll come at you like an angry bear. An angry mama bear, as is mine and Johnny and Pony's inside joke. He's also a turd sometimes because he loves to play pranks and he's always in a good mood. Not that being in a good mood is a bad thing, but when I'm in a bad mood, I wish he'd shut up. But I love him.

Two-Bit pretty much ignores Mom and Dad's problems and carries on with life. Trust me, he hates how Mom and Dad act, but he doesn't let it ruin the fun of life. Two-Bit is both nonchalant to the issue and angry about it. He lives in the moment of his anger, but doesn't dwell on it afterwards.

He also doesn't let it ruin his siblings' lives. He's gotten really mad at Mom for her yelling at us. And one time, when he got home from hanging out with some friends and found Pony with a bruise on his cheek, his immediate thought was that Mom had hit him. So he questioned Pony about it. Pony said that he got in a fight at school, but heck, there was no way that was true. Two-Bit found Pony's paper with a B on it on his desk, and then that evening he heard Mom griping about the grade to Dad. Two-Bit got right up in Mom's face and yelled at her about hitting him, and she vehemently denied it. We never really found out the truth, but we all kind of knew without solid proof.

Dallas is a total hood. Well, only sometimes. Ok, pretty much most of the time. He's not a good person, but he's a great guy, if you know what I mean. Tough and hard, he's done some pretty bad stuff, even gone to jail. He's mean and he hits on girls all the time. He gets into fights and beats people up and slashes their tires. He's a stereotypical bad boy, if not worse sometimes. But he does love his siblings, especially his younger ones. Sentimental feelings are not something he would admit to having, but I know him. I know he cares about us, because like Two-Bit, if you hurt someone close to him, you'd better watch out. Granted, Dally would do a lot worse to you than Two-Bit would, but still. It shows that he cares, even if he doesn't act like it.

Dally hates Mom and Dad. He doesn't talk about it too much because it bothers me and Johnny and Pony, but he isn't secretive about it either. He straight up hates them. He's completely cut himself off from both of them; he never does what Mom tells him to and he doesn't let Dad even try to love him. He and Dad were really close before, but now Dally was sick of Dad being depressed all the time. Dally didn't believe that Dad was really trying. He thought Dad was just keeping up a facade to keep Mom pacified as best he could. In Dally's eyes, Dad didn't really love us anymore because it was our fault they hadn't gotten a divorce.

Johnny is an angel from heaven and practically worships Dallas. Johnny is the quietest person on the face of this planet, even though he's the nicest. Before the almost divorce, he spoke a lot more, but ever since then, he's been a really quiet guy. He's also a lot jumpier. I think Mom's yelling at him scares him. But, just like a guy, he won't admit it. Boys never admit anything. Johnny and I are super close though, so I'm one of the few people who can get him to talk; Dally is one of the few others.

Johnny hates seeing Mom and Dad fight, and even though Mom acts like she hates him, he always does his best for her and tries to win back her love. It doesn't work most of the time, although she does sometimes acknowledge it with a pat on the shoulder or, if he's lucky, a smile. I love it when Mom smiles, because she never does unless Johnny somehow managed to please her. But how could you not smile at Johnny?

Ponyboy is the youngest in the family and my only younger sibling. As such, I protect him with my life. I know how Two-Bit protects me, and I do my best to protect my one younger sibling the same way he protects his four. We're all super close to Pony, maybe because he's the baby of the family, or maybe because he's just so lovable. Of course, I could just be biased. Pony's pretty quiet, too, but he was already a calm child before the almost divorce. He loves reading and does better in school than any of us. (But Two-Bit and Dally skip all the time, so they don't really count.) Oh, and yes, Ponyboy is his real name; don't ask. (Speaking of which, "Two-Bit" is just a nickname because he's always got to get his two bit's worth in.) Anyway, Pony is precious; I watch the sunset with him almost every night. We're best friends.

Pony tries to be indifferent to Mom and Dad's issues, nonchalant like Two-Bit, but I know they affect him. He has nightmares at least twice a week, so one of us siblings always sleeps with him at night, except for Dallas, who acts all heartless and who says that Pony's just a big baby and needs to get over it.

Like I said earlier, we never had concrete proof that Mom hit Pony, but she watched his grades a lot more after that incident, he never got less than an A again, and he seemed more skittish around Mom. He always does exactly what she tells him to right away without a word. As for him and Dad, he tries to stay close with Dad and always stops what he's doing if Dad tries to spend time with him. Pony and Johnny are definitely the most affected by the almost divorce.

As for me? I just live my crazy life with my crazy brothers. I'm kinda along for the ride, ya know? One girl with four brothers is in a fun, insane adventure of a reality. It's a good life. It kinda sucks sometimes, but it's good. I have food to eat, a home to live in, good grades, close friends, my amazing cousins, and most importantly, my incredible brothers. I love my Dad, and I try to love my Mom.

My brothers have all shaped how I react towards my parents. I sure don't let their fighting affect my happiness, like Two-Bit. I hate Mom's attitude towards us, like Dally. I hate seeing Mom and Dad fight, like Johnny. And I do my best to fulfill what Mom demands of me, like Pony. I work really hard to keep my dad happy, and I spend time with him when I can and he can.

Overall, life is good. And I know that with my brothers by my side, it will stay that way.


	2. Chapter 2

As usual, we visited the theme park/arcade on our way home from school. Really, only three of us were on our way home from school. Dally and Two-Bit had skipped again, and only came back to walk home with us. Dally kept complaining about how much fun he was missing out on; apparently he had met some girl, and Two-Bit had had to drag him away from the "fun." But now we were at the abandoned place of memories, and I was ready to have a good time, with or without a good attitude from Dal.

"Come on, let's do the swings!" I took off towards the swing ride. It's the classic swing carousel that every amusement park has. We loved it, especially since it still worked. Two-Bit or Dally would flip the switch to get it going, then rush over and jump into a swing as the ride started spinning.

I hopped into a swing and didn't bother to buckle the seat belt.

"Hey, Two, start 'er up!" I called.

Once we were all seated, Two-Bit flipped the switch and ran to hop into a swing. We did the ride three times before deciding to move on to something else.

"Can we play hide-and-seek?" Pony asked.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. It sounds childish, but come on, an abandoned place is the best place to play hide-and-seek.

Two-Bit scratched his chin as if contemplating.

"No. We play that all the time," Dally said.

"Because it's so fun!" I said.

"One, two," Two-Bit began.

Dally groaned, but ran off to find a hiding spot anyway. I quickly ran to the attic ladder, which we left hanging from the ceiling at all times. I went into the attic and sat down among some boxes near the entrance. I could jump out and scare Two-Bit after he walked in. See, we didn't play hide-and-seek like normal people. We played it where the hiders had to scare the seeker, or where one person hid and had to scare everyone else and change places throughout the game.

After we played a few rounds of hide-and-seek, Two-Bit suggested we head home.

"Mom said she had some extra stuff for us to do today," he said.

"So? Who cares what she says?" Dally said.

"Dally…" I started quietly, but I didn't really want to get into it. I hated fighting with Dallas when he was actually angry.

"What, kid? Look, guys, we shouldn't just do whatever she says. She can't treat us that way. She ain't got a right to. She may have birthed us, but that doesn't mean she can kill us."

"What do you mean 'kill us'?" Two-Bit asked.

"She's gonna work y'all to death if you keep on obeying her!"

"No, she's not. We can handle chores, and it's not like other kids don't do chores, too," I argued.

"Trudy, that woman makes you do more chores than most parents make all their kids do combined," Dallas said, glaring at me.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration. And 'that woman' is your mother."

"I don't care."

"Yeah, we noticed."

Dally whacked the back of my head.

"Hey! You're such a fart!" I stomped off, hoping Dally would feel sorry, but knowing he wouldn't. Besides, he was in a terrible mood today.

"Oh yeah?"

He ran up beside me and grabbed my arm.

"Don't just run off like that, brat!"

"Don't hit me!"

Dally promptly punched me in the shoulder. I punched him back. He pushed me so hard I fell to the ground. I knew he probably wouldn't take it much further because I was his kid sister.

"Knock it off, you two," Two-Bit said.

"Knock what off?" I asked innocently as I stood up. "We're just the best of friends, ain't we, Dal?" I slung an arm over his shoulder, which was slightly difficult considering that he was taller than me.

"Yeah, yeah we are."

I didn't have time to question why he sounded so agreeable before he hoisted me up and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He kept walking towards home.

"Sweet! Free ride!"

Dally dropped me on my butt.

The rest of the walk home was uneventful. Dallas told us as we walked up to the house that we shouldn't do what Mom said, but Two-Bit told him to shut up. As the others went inside, I took Johnny's hand. A really strange feeling had just come over me, and my stomach turned.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asked.

"I got a bad feeling." I looked into Johnny's black eyes and found some comfort.

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just got a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as we were walking up the porch steps. Like something bad's gonna happen."

"Don't say that. Everything's gonna be fine. Come on." I followed Johnny inside.

I made my way into the kitchen, where Mom was giving Two-Bit and Ponyboy their list of chores to finish before dinner. Dally was out of sight. Mom dismissed Two-Bit and Pony, then noticed me and Johnny.

"Get over here, you two!" She quipped.

We dutifully obeyed.

"I want you to-" she stopped at the sight of me. "Trudy, you're absolutely filthy! What have you been doing with yourself?"

I guess I had gotten dirty in the attic and then when Dallas pushed me and dropped me on the ground. I glanced down and saw that I was very, very dusty. One pant leg of my jeans had a rip.

"I-"

Mom did not let me finish. "I am sick and tired of you kids running around playing after school when there is work to be done around here! You are so filthy and disgusting! Do you see the mess you've made?"

I nodded. Technically, Dally made part of the mess, but I wouldn't rat out my brother, and not just because he'd beat my head in if I did.

"You are a slob of a daughter! Oh, and I saw that report card you tried to hide from me."

I let my jaw drop in spite of myself. First of all, I hadn't been hiding it. She had been busy last night, so I hadn't interrupted her angry ranting to show her. Second, I hadn't gotten any bad grades, so what did it matter?

"I wasn't hiding it. I didn't have time to show-"

"Don't lie to me!" Mom screamed.

By now, Two-Bit and Pony were watching from the living room. Mom couldn't see them, or else she would've told them to beat it. Johnny stood behind me silently.

"I'm not, I just-"

"I said DON'T LIE TO ME!"

I thought that was the worst of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Mom stared at me for a moment after yelling at me. And then, she did what we all feared she would do to one of us someday. She slapped me. Before I could process what was happening and move out of the way, she had slapped me sharply across my cheek. I swear, I heard the slap resonate throughout the house.

And then it was silent. For about one second. The next thing I knew, Two-Bit was wrapping one arm around me and pointing at Mom with his other hand.

"Don't you dare hurt my siblings!" he yelled.

I shook at the sound of his voice. I had been too far away, in another room, when he had confronted her about hitting Pony to fully sense the anger in his tone. I had never known my big brother could be so furious.

"If you touch her, or any of my siblings ever again, if you so much as lay a finger on them-"

"You'll what? Call Social Services and have them all taken away and separated? You're eighteen, so they couldn't take you. But them? Social Services would take them all away from you and send them off to who knows where. And it would all be your fault," Mom said.

Two-Bit stepped right up to her. "If you dare hurt my siblings again, I'll call the cops and they'll take you away for child abuse. You forget that we still have a dad to live with."

Johnny gasped. Two-Bit just earned himself a world of fury from Mom.

"You leave them alone." With that, Two-Bit whirled around, and wrapping his arm around me again, led Johnny and me out of the kitchen and upstairs. Pony followed.

Two-Bit led me into his room. I sat on his bed, still in shock from all that had just happened. Sitting next to me, he motioned for Johnny and Pony to join us.

"I hope you kids know that I mean what I told her. That's the second time she's hit one of you - Pony, don't try to deny it, cause we all know it's true. Isn't it?"

Pony nodded slowly. "It is true. I walked into her room to tell her about the grade - it was an eighty eight - and when I told her the number, she slowly approached me, and then - and then she hit me. I stepped back and tried to run out, but she grabbed me and pulled me back in. She told me if I ever brought home a grade less than a ninety, she'd whip me so good I'd rather die."

"She did that much?" Two-Bit jumped up.

"Two-Bit, don't go talk to her!" Pony was tearing up. "She made me swear to lie to you guys. If she finds out I told the truth-" Pony stopped abruptly.

"Fine. For your sake, I won't. But I swear on my life, if she hurts any of you one more time, I'm calling the cops."

I just nodded. I was terrified. And where was Dallas? Surely he had heard all the noise from downstairs. Two-Bit gently put a hand on my chin and turned my face towards him.

"Yep. It's starting to bruise, but it doesn't look like it'll be too terrible. Not worse than Pony's was. You're gonna be ok, kiddo."

I nodded again. "We'd better get busy. Mom'll just get madder if we stay up here not doing her chores much longer."

Two-Bit still looked concerned. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Johnny, Pony, y'all go get started on your chores. Trudy, I really think you should just relax for a couple more minutes. If Mom asks, I tell her you're constipated or something."

That made me laugh. "I don't think she'd believe I was constipated."

"Maybe not, but it'd be funny to see the look on her face when I told her. Now, you just take a breather for a minute, and then you can come do your chores. Seriously, I'll cover for you."

"Thanks, Two-Bit."

"No problem."

After Two-Bit had gone downstairs, I walked across the hall to Dallas's room. I knocked on the door.

"Yeah?"

Slowly, I opened the door and stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. Dally was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"So she hit you?"

"Uh huh."

"Come here."

I laid down next to Dally and joined him in examining the fascinating ceiling. Dally propped himself up on one elbow and looked at my bruise.

"I'd love to do that to her right now."

"You can't, though. She'd kill you."

"Nah. No one can kill me." He paused and cocked an eyebrow. "Do you believe me?"

I really did. My older brother was a real jerk most of the time, but he was brave and fierce, too. If anyone tried to kill him, he'd kill them first.

"Uh huh."

"Good. So you tell me if anyone ever does anything like that to you again. I swear I'll get those dirty…" he proceeded to use every awful name he could think of.

"Dal, you have a horrible vocabulary!" I interrupted.

"And I am proud of it!"

"You weirdo!" I sat up and playfully smacked him with a pillow.

"Oh really? That's how it's gonna be?"

Our pillow fight continued, and I lost track of time. Eventually, I heard the front door open and close and knew Dad was home from work.

"Oh no. I haven't done any of my chores, and Dad just got home. That means it's almost time for dinner, and I'm supposed to have my chores done by then!"

"You don't have to do them," Dally said.

"After I already got hit once? I don't think I'll risk it today."

I ran downstairs and got busy sweeping the floor.

"Hey, pumpkin!" Dad ruffled my hair as he walked by on the way to his room.

"Hi, Dad! Did you have a good day?"

"As good as it can be." Dad smiled weakly. "Did you?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

And then, of course, he asked the inevitable question as to the cause of my bruised face. I could feel Mom glaring at me from the kitchen. At least I was a good liar.

"I got punched at school. I accidentally bumped into this upperclassman and made them spill their lunch, so they got all mad and punched me."

"Did you punch back?"

"No. I didn't want detention. I picked up all their stuff for them."

"Good kid. Well, I have to finish some stuff before dinner. See you later."

"See ya."

Once Dad was out of the room, Mom approached me. "You'd better hurry up on those chores. I know your stupid brother was lying for you."

"He's not stupid."

"Don't argue with me."

Lucky for her, I didn't plan to. I'd had enough of her anger for one day.


	4. Chapter 4

Dallas noisily tromped down the stairs and plopped into a seat at the table. "So when's dinner gonna be ready? I'm starving."

"You deserve to be, you lazy child."

Dallas just smirked. I really wondered why Mom even bothered with him any more; he never listened, much less obeyed.

"Dinner!" Mom hollered.

Two-Bit, Johhny, and Ponyboy came running.

"Where is your no-good father?" Mom questioned. "Charles, it's dinner time!" I flinched at her shrill scream.

Dad finally joined us, and dinner was as uncomfortable as always. Dad asked us all about school, and of course, Two-Bit and Dally lied about skipping. Mom berated us for as many things as she could, and Dad for even more. My brothers and I quickly changed topic after we had all reported on our day. At that point, Mom and Dad did not enter the conversation much. I could see in Dad's eyes that he longed to talk with us, but had no words. But in Mom's eyes, I found only judgement, and sometimes sadness, which I didn't always understand.

That night, I stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Mom had hit me, actually hit me. Gently, I touched the bruise on my cheek. I usually could imagine things away, but not this time, not when something physical reminded me that reality overruled fantasy.

I thought a lot while I tried falling asleep. I thought about Ponyboy's lying to us, about Dallas's attitude, about Two-Bit's anger. I couldn't get Two-Bit's voice out of my head. I knew he really meant what he said. I also knew, however, that Mom would do everything she could to keep him unaware of anything else that happened; I wasn't the only one who knew he was serious. Mom would do anything to keep things secret…

I fell asleep at some point, and woke up to Johnny shaking me gently.

"Trudy, wake up," he whispered.

"Aw, come on, Johnny! You ain't gonna wake her up by whispering!"

I tried not to laugh at Dally's exasperation.

"You wake her up then! I don't like waking her up," Johnny whisper-yelled.

"Why not?" Dally asked. I could hear that he was in my room now.

"Well, because she looks so peaceful."

"She won't look peaceful for much longer." The next thing I knew, Dally was jumping on my bed.

"Dallas! You're gonna break the bed! Knock it off!" I tried to sound mad. I _tried_.

"See, Johnnycakes, that's how you wake her up!" Dallas continued jumping. I threw my pillow at Dally.

Our mornings often looked something like this. I forgot to set my alarm most of the time, so someone always had to wake me up. We usually engaged in wild shenanigans of some sort, frequently of the pillow fight genre. Once, we had accidentally hit Mom with a pillow. That led to lots of screaming from her and Dally. But anyway, mornings were kinda fun around our house, especially when Mom slept in.

Dad was always gone by the time we went downstairs for breakfast; he worked early, long hours. Breakfast was also exciting. With four hungry teenagers in one kitchen, things get a little hectic, and sometimes, a food fight will ensue (these are usually Pony's fault).

As I was pulling a box of cereal off the pantry shelf, Pony took it from my hand.

"Hey! I had it first! Give it back!"

Pony tossed a handful of cereal over his shoulder at me.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it." I grabbed the box and returned to making my breakfast. After pouring a bowl of cereal, I turned to the fridge for the milk.

"I already got the milk, Trudy- hey!"

I turned around to see Pony walking away from Johnny, with the milk jug. He proceeded to pour some milk into _my_ bowl of cereal, pull a spoon out of the drawer, and eat _my_ cereal.

"I swear, Ponyboy, if you were not my baby brother, I would beat the tar out of you."

"Aw, you wouldn't hurt an innocent kid, would ya?"

I snatched up the milk jug and squirted some milk in his innocent-feigning face. Just like that, I had begun a food fight. We all took sides, with Johnny and me against Pony and Two-Bit. Dallas sat back complacently eating his own cereal and enjoying his morning entertainment. Before we knew it, the schoolbus had pulled up outside. Looking back, I really wish we had remembered to clean up our mess before rushing out of the house.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: Thanks to everyone reading this story! I hope you enjoy this chapter, especially after the ending of Chapter 4. Also, thank you to Dolphingirls and Demigod-Wizard-Gatekeeper for your reviews! It's so encouraging to actually hear from readers, so thanks._

At lunch, my cousin Sodapop (yes, my family has a weird name problem) asked about my bruise.

Before I could reply, Dally answered for me. "That wretched woman who birthed us hit her. And you know what? Trudy wouldn't let me hit her back."

"She hit you?" My other cousin, Steve, exclaimed. "Man, wait until Darry hears about it." Steve and Soda's older brother Darrel, my other cousin, had graduated high school already, so he was not with us.

"Yeah. I'm ok." I shrugged.

Soda stared at Ponyboy, who consequently stared at his lunch tray instead of saying anything. But Soda understood without Pony saying a word.

"Are you sure? Because you know all us boys in the family can gang up on her," Steve said. He took a swig of his chocolate milk and spilled half of it on his face.

I laughed. "Do you have a drinking problem, Steve?"

"No, that's your brother Two-Bit. But seriously, we'll teach your mom a lesson if we need to."

"Yeah, I get it. I'm the weak little girl of the family so everyone has to protect her because she can't take care of herself. Guys, just knock it off. Mom's going through a lot, that's all," I said.

"Trudy, chill out. All we're saying is that _if_ you ever want us or need us to address her, we gladly will," Dally said through a mouthful of food.

"Ok, Dallas, I get it already!" I quickly stood up and left, ignoring the boys calling after me to come back.

I hurriedly made my way to the school library. The library, with its rows and rows of words and its silent seclusion from the stresses of the world around it, brought me respite when my emotions controlled me more than I controlled them. I sat down in my favorite armchair, tucked away in a back corner of the library.

My struggling to understand it all frustrated me. I envied those who could simply ignore their inner turmoil. Slowly, I thought through everything. Thinking things through, while painful, often cleared up situations for me, or at least made them more bearable. Before long, though, the bell rang, and I was forced to leave for class. I continued thinking things through as I walked.

The kitchen. The kitchen was an absolute wreck. How had it not occurred to me earlier that our little battle this morning would surely invoke the fury of our mother? I saw Ponyboy out of the corner of my eye, and ran to him.

"Pony, where's Two-Bit?"

"I don't know, why?"

"We forgot to clean up the kitchen. I can't skip class because I have a huge test this hour, a review for another huge test next hour, and tennis practice for our upcoming game after that! And you and Johnny can't skip because you can't let your grades fall, but Two-Bit and Dally skip all the time anyway," I explained.

I immediately regretted telling Pony and not looking for Two-Bit or Dally myself. His wide eyes and pale face revealed every fear he wanted to hide.

"I don't know where they went. They're probably skipping."

"Who's probably skipping? Your brothers?" Soda practically popped up out of nowhere.

"Don't just creep up like that! And yes, our brothers," I said. Keeping the nervousness out of my tone of voice proved to be a challenge.

"Excuse me, students, but why are you not in class?" We whirled around to see a teacher known for her stern policy of punctuality glaring at us.

"We're so sorry, ma'am. We were just a little slow getting out of lunch. It won't happen again," Soda said.

"Well, see to it that it doesn't. And get to class."

"We'll talk later," Soda whispered as we went our separate ways.

I hoped he was right.

After a painstakingly long hour of working my rear end off to pass my chemistry test, I found Sodapop and Pony in the hall.

"They're skipping," Pony announced.

"Great. What are we supposed to do now?"

"Why can't I just skip?" Pony asked.

"For one thing, you can't afford to risk letting your grades down, and you know it. For another thing, if Mom's home, she'd go crazy at seeing you home from school so early."

"She wouldn't go crazy at-"

"They skip all the time! Mom barely even gripes at them for it anymore!" I interrupted.

"Hey, guys, calm down. I'll skip for you. Your mom can't hurt me; I'm not her child," Soda offered.

"No, Soda, I can't let you do that. It's our mistake, so we have to fix it."

"Kid-"

"I'm not a kid!"

People were staring at me now. I hated that.

"Ignore them. You got frustrated, and that's ok. Don't worry about what they think," Soda said gently.

"Ok. But really, you don't have to clean up our mess - literally or metaphorically. We need to resolve our own mistakes."

Soda sighed. "If you say so, Trudy. Just- well, you know you can come to me for anything, anytime. I'm gonna get to class. See y'all later."

"If Mom doesn't bite our heads off," Pony muttered.

"That doesn't help."

The bell rang. Anxiety pulsed through me as we ran out of time. I hated not having a solution. What I lacked in physical strength compared to the boys, I made up for in analytical skills. But now, I was running out of options.

Finally, my tennis practice was over. I met up with Pony and Johnny as they left their last classes.

"We've got to get home. I'm not waiting for Two-Bit and Dal. We've got to clean up the kitchen."

"Waiting? They went to Tim Shepard's house for the afternoon," Johnny said.

"When did they say that?" Pony asked.

"Oh yeah, Dal told me as we were leaving lunch. He figured someone ought to know, even though he didn't really care."

"Great. Just fantastic. Come on, boys. We're taking the bus today."

It felt like the bus stopped a million times before arriving at our stop. I ran off of the bus and straight to my house. And trust me, I hate running, so that's saying something. Pony and Johnny caught up with me as I stumbled my way up the porch steps.

"Wait, Trudy, what if she's in there?" Johnny said.

I stopped short. "If she's in there… well, we'll just face her together. We're stronger together."

Apprehensively, I opened the front door. We stepped inside and shut the door. Not hearing any screaming from Mom was a good sign. Maybe she wasn't home. We quietly went into the kitchen, finding it just as we had left it - splattered in milk and corn flakes.

"Oh, hallelujah," I whispered, realizing that I hadn't breathed since coming in. "Ok, let's get busy."

We worked harder and faster than we ever had in our lives, and I mean that. Just as we were almost done, the front door opened and closed.

"You kids better be in the kitchen cleaning up your mess!"

 _Crap,_ was the only thing that went through my mind at that moment. For a split second, we all froze and glanced at each other, our hearts and adrenaline pounding, and then - time continued, and we moved even faster than before.

"I hope you kids understand that there will be consequences for your mess. This kind of behavior will _not_ be tolerated in my house."

I looked up from my position on the floor, where I was wiping up a puddle of milk, to see Mom contemptuously glaring at us.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," Pony and I promptly responded.

"Johnny! I asked a question."

I gulped. _Oh, Johnny, now's not the time to freeze up!_

Johnny turned to face Mom, and only Pony and I recognized the fear written across his face. "I- sorry- yes, ma'am."

Mom marched over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I expect more _respect_ from my children, is that clear?"

Johnny nodded.

"Answer me."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

The anxiety already flowing throughout my body became even stronger as Mom walked away from Johnny. But, she was walking away. That was good, right? She wasn't going to do anything, at least not yet.

But then she spoke again. Without turning around, she addressed Johnny.

"Bring me that broom."

Dutifully, Johnny obeyed. For a moment, Mom stood still, just holding the broom. Then, as quickly as a storm attacks, she spun around and whacked Johnny with it.

"Stop!" I yelled. "You can't keep hurting us! It isn't right; you're our mother!"

"And isn't that just the worst thing to have ever happened to me?"

I legitimately thought my heart stopped beating. Dallas was right. She didn't care. She wasn't just hurting too much to show love; she had no love to show. But- but she was our mother, so she had to care. Right?

Wrong. She hit Johnny again with the broom, and he fell to the side, grabbing the counter to keep from hitting the floor.

"You three listen to me, and listen closely. Ponyboy, Trudy, come over here."

I wondered if Pony's legs were shaking as much as mine.

"If any of you say a word of this to anyone, especially your older brothers or your father, so help me, I will personally beat the tar out of all of you. Don't think I'm not unwilling to break that telephone to stop Two-Bit from calling the police, or to break his legs to keep him from getting to it. Not a word. I am the mother, and I make the rules."


	6. Chapter 6

The power of fear is stronger than any other power which has ever grasped my soul. Fear overrides all reason, stomping out any hope that the cause of the fear is not one that should create such feelings. Like a speck of leaven in a loaf of bread, a single frightful moment permeates one's entire being and enlarges the monster of fear. And once that monster is fully grown, no amount of logic, no persuasive, reassuring speeches can convince its victim that it has no reason to be afraid.

We knew our mother lacked the power she claimed to have, and yet, our knowledge shrunk in comparison with our fear. So, when Two-Bit came home that evening, shortly before dinner, we did not tell him everything.

"Howdy, halflings," Two-Bit said as he came into my room, where I sat with Pony and Johnny.

We mumbled our greetings, and after a moment, Two-Bit looked as if someone had stuck him with a pin.

"We didn't clean up this morning! I guess you three did when you got home, because it's clean now. What did Mom do?"

"We got home in time to clean most of it up before she got home. We were finishing up when she got back. She was furious and told us that if anything like that ever happened again, we'd be in even worse trouble. We're all grounded for a month." I hadn't completely lied. Mom _had_ grounded us after her outrage fiasco. I figured not telling Two-Bit everything would count as not lying. I mean, a lie is something that isn't true, so if I just didn't say anything, I hadn't lied, right?

"Well, I'm darned glad she didn't hurt ya."

I noticed then that my brother seemed slightly drunk. It was hard to know sometimes, because he drank enough that he didn't always seem drunk anymore, and because his sober self was pretty close to his drunk self. But I could tell.

"You've been drinking, haven't you? And where's Dal?" I asked.

"Yeah, where is Dal? He's not still out, is he?" Johnny said.

"Nope, he's out. I don't know when he's coming back. I was getting tired of all the people there. And the music sucked, so I left early. Dally's probably gonna stay a long time. You know how he is."

"Yeah, stupid," Pony muttered.

"Dinner!"

I flinched at Mom's scream. She hollered like that every single night, and it still made me jump sometimes.

"You ok, Tru?" Two-Bit said.

"Fine. Let's go eat."

I left quickly, not wanting to give him the chance to bring up the cereal incident again. I'd get around to telling him, but not now. Not when Mom was still mad about it. Making both of them mad at each other at the same time was a horrible idea. Johnny and Pony and I had already discussed it. We would tell him the next day, when Mom had had time to cool down, unless something else happened to anger him or her.

Mom was really ticked off at Dally for not being home and ranted about it during dinner.

"All I ask of you kids is to do your chores and be home in time for supper. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so, you kids…" she went on, but I ignored it.

"Alright, Mom, would you stop already? We get the picture," Two-Bit finally interrupted.

"Charles, do you hear how disrespectful your son is? Why don't you ever discipline these kids?"

 _Like you need him to,_ I thought.

"You seem to do a pretty good job of that yourself. Besides, they're good kids," Dad said.

"Oh, they're good kids, huh? You didn't see the mess they made this morning. Cereal and milk. Everywhere."

Dad laughed. At least someone wasn't mad at us. "A little food fight never hurt anyone. They're kids, Helen. You can't expect them to be perfect."

Mom scoffed at this answer, shaking her head disgustedly. "At least tell your oldest not to talk disrespectfully to his mother."

"She's right, Two-Bit. She has as much of a right of free speech as you do."

"Sure, but should we allow derogatory speech that diminishes self-confidence and builds an aurora of hate to be spoken in this house?"

"Where on Earth did you learn to talk like that?" Mom demanded incredulously. "And the word is 'aura.'"

"I watched the speech club debates today. And guess what one of the debates was about - free speech versus 'derogatory speech.'"

Mom huffed. Dad nodded.

"He's got a point, Helen."

"No, he doesn't! I-"

"Can we just drop the issue?" I didn't look up from my plate as I asked the question. I didn't want to see Mom's expression. "Can we just finish dinner?"

"Yes," Dad said.

No one spoke for the rest of the meal.

I glanced at the clock. 8:00. I had just completed all of my homework, and Pony and Johnny were probably close or done as well. Two-Bit was in the shower. And Dallas had not come home.

I groaned and flopped onto my bed. I hated, absolutely loathed, when Dally stayed out late. Sometime between midnight and two, he would stumble through the front door, and quite possibly collapse on the floor before making it to the stairs. If he managed to make it up the stairs, he'd likely pass out in the hallway, but at least he was home.

He still wasn't home when Johnny and I finished a card game at ten.

"You know he'll come back. He always does," Johnny tried encouraging me.

"But what if he doesn't? I wouldn't put it past him to run away, what with all that's been going on with Mom."

"I would. There's no way he would leave us. Dally would never do that."

"I hope you're right."

I woke up at two thirty, having set my alarm so I could get up and confirm for myself that

Dally would be home. The latest he had ever returned home was two fifteen. My mind told me to stop worrying, that he would be home, but my heart whispered only doubts.

My heart was right. I searched the entire house, save my parents' room; Dally had not returned. Anxious as I was, I decided to trust Johnny and go back to bed. My heart was still unsettled, though, and sleep evaded me.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" I darted up at the sound of Pony's voice.

"I fell asleep…" my voice trailed off.

"Obviously," Pony said. "Where are you going?"

I had leapt out of bed and ran out of the room, remembering Dally. Instead of finding Dally in his room, I found Johnny. I also found fear once more, like it had been lurking around the corner, waiting for me to discover that Johnny had been wrong, and Dallas had not come home.

"He didn't come home, did he?" I knew the answer, but not why I bothered to ask.

Johnny shook his head.

"Hey, it'll be ok. He probably just fell asleep at Tim's place." Johnny pulled me into a hug.

"He's never done that."

"I know." Johnny rested his head on my shoulder, still holding me. "But he wouldn't leave us, I just know it. You know how you can tell when something's a certain way, like your heart is telling you?"

Did I ever.

"Uh huh."

"That's how I know. Trust me?" Johnny stepped back and stared into my eyes.

"I trust you."

"Good. Let's get ready for school. I bet he'll be here when we come home this afternoon."


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: So sorry for not updating sooner! Homework (and some cramming) took over completely on Sunday and Monday, unfortunately, but I am thrilled to be back with Chapter 7. Hope y'all enjoy! (And thanks again for the reviews! They're so encouraging!)_

Johnny's words had eased my fear, but it was not to last. As we sat down to eat breakfast, Two-Bit turned on the television. On the news, a reporter grimly informed Tulsa that a kidnapping had taken place just last night. Suddenly, I lost my appetite.

"There's no way," Pony whispered.

"No, it can't be," Johnny agreed.

I shushed them and stared intently at the screen.

"... and we'll have more updates on this vague story throughout the day. I'm Patricia Davis, with Tulsa Today."

"Great guys, you made us miss the full story."

"Story of what?" Two-Bit sleepily tripped into the kitchen.

"There was a kidnapping last night. Dally never came home last night," I explained.

"Trudy, do you really think Dallas could get himself kidnapped? Our Dallas?" Two-Bit said.

"I doubt it," I admitted. "But still, what if it was him?"

"Not possible. Probably some stupid kid out later than he was supposed to be or lost or something dumb like that."

"You're right."

Here's an irksome fact about doubt: it stays on your mind, even when you've proven it wrong and decided to move on. I knew for a fact that there was no way in Heaven, on Earth, or in Hades that my older brother Dallas could get kidnapped. He was too strong, to smart, and too crazy for someone to successfully kidnap him. The victim was someone else.

I convinced myself of this, and yet, I could not stop thinking about Dally all day at school. And no, he did not come to school. What a surprise.

Soda and Steve seemed unfazed when we told them about Dally's disappearance.

"Typical Dal. Unpredictable," was all Steve said.

"He'll be back, don't worry about it. He's tough, and he's street-smart, but somehow I don't see him enjoying living out alone on the streets, even if it meant getting away from your mom," Soda pointed out.

"Yeah, but you know something else? There was a kidnapping last night. A reporter was talking about it on the news, and if _some people_ -" I pointed to Pony and Johnny - "hadn't interrupted, I would've heard who the victim was."

"We established this! It wasn't Dally!" Two-Bit said.

"I know, I'm just worried about him, ok?" I fought to hold back tears. I wasn't a crier in front of the boys. With four brothers and only male cousins, I just couldn't be a crybaby. I could be by myself, but not around them.

"Ok. I'm just saying that you don't have to be."

The rest of the day dragged on more slowly than any other day of school had ever gone. I took pleasure in my theater and literature classes, but every other class bored me immensely. I longed to go home, but I was not a skipper, so instead, I suffered. Finally, after hours of misery, the last bell rang. I met my brothers outside and we began the walk home.

"When we get home, Dally is going to be there. I feel it in my bones," Two-Bit announced. "He, however, will feel a load of pain in his bones when I give him a whooping for staying out all night."

I knew he didn't mean it. Trust me, Dally would get one heck of a lecture, but not a literal whooping. Although, I wondered which Dally would chose if given the option. He despised lectures from Two-Bit, as did Pony, Johnny, and I. Two-Bit cared so much that once he started going off about something, it was kind of difficult to shut him up. Of course, sometimes this ended quite comically, but more often than not, we ended up with highly unnecessary (and _very_ detailed, and sometimes inappropriate) personal anecdotes.

As we were nearing the abandoned theme park, I felt that strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, the same one I had felt the day Mom hit me. The street we were on never had much traffic, but back behind us a ways, was a single blue Mustang. Sharp, sleek, and shiny, it followed steadily behind us for some time. Eventually, it started weirding me out.

"Guys, that Mustang has been behind us this whole time. It's like the driver's pacing us," I said.

"Maybe they're just out for an afternoon car stroll," Pony suggested.

"Car stroll?"

"Yeah. Like a stroll is a slow, calm walk. Maybe they're taking a car stroll - you know, a slow, calm drive."

"In a Mustang? Really?"

"Maybe they feel great at a slow speed? Have you ever been in one?"

I rolled my eyes.

"She has a point," Johnny said. "Maybe we should hurry up."

"Maybe this, maybe that. You kids are so wishy-washy," Two-Bit complained. "Come on."

We sped up our pace, and to my dismay, so did the Mustang. I mentioned it to the boys, and Johnny suggested we adjust our speed a few times to see if the driver would, too. We slowed down, and so did the Mustang. We sped up again, but this time, the Mustang stayed the same speed, even when we did not slow down for another couple of minutes. When we slowed down again, the Mustang actually sped up a little and passed us.

"Ok, so we're fine," Two-Bit said.

"But think for a minute. A trained kidnapper would know not to match our speed exactly because it would give him away, so he would purposefully go a different speed than we are so that we'd think everything was fine," Pony observed.

"They train kidnappers?" Johnny asked.

"No, Johnnycakes. Look, Pony, if it was a kidnapper, they wouldn't have lost track of us by driving off like that," Two-Bit said.

"They could circle back around," I said.

"Are you guys trying to scare yourselves?"

"No, we're just trying to see every possibility."

"You oughta be detectives."

"And you oughta be a comedian," I said.

"You bein' snarky with me? Huh, huh?" Two-Bit grabbed me and started tickling me.

I screamed and pulled myself free, running away. Two-Bit pursued, but I was much faster. I heard him yell to Ponyboy,

"Pony, you run track! Help me out!"

"I just had track practice! Even runners get tired of running, you know."

I laughed and kept going, knowing Two-Bit would give up soon. As I neared the end of the street, a car swiftly drove up and stopped with a screech. It was the blue Mustang. I stopped. Three strong looking men got out of the car, and I turned to run the other way.

"Two-Bit!"

He had already seen them, and was running as fast as he could to get to me. Two large hands grabbed my arms and pulled me back. I tried to scream, but another hand immediately slammed over my mouth.

By now, Pony and Johnny were running, too. If I had thought they looked scared when Mom hit me, I hadn't known what fear looked like in their eyes. Even from far away, I could recognize the sheer terror emanating from them.

I violently shook my head, momentarily freeing myself from the hand over my mouth.

"Let me go!" I screamed. "Please!"

"Shut up, kid!" Someone whacked me upside the head, and hard.

"Trudy!" Two-Bit was so close now.

I struggled with all my might to loose myself from the tight grip pulling me away from my brothers, but I was only a petite girl (a whole five feet tall) fighting three very large men. The next thing I knew, they were shoving me into the backseat of the Mustang.

"NO! Let her go!" Two-Bit's desperate cry pierced through the air.

Two of the men got in the backseat, one on either side of me, and the other got in the driver's seat.

"Let me out!"

I tried to climb over one of them and open the door, but to no avail. The last thing I saw as the driver hurriedly drove away was my brothers' horrified faces.


	8. Chapter 8

"No!" I cussed out the men who had taken away my sister.

"Two-Bit, what are we gonna do?" Pony asked, panting beside me.

"I don't know, man!" Anger pulsed within me. I couldn't believe I had let this happen; I had let them get away with her, with my sister.

"Hey, man, calm down. We're almost home; let's go figure this out there. Dad will know what to do," Johnny said.

I didn't understand it. Johnny didn't talk much, and he didn't say a lot when he did, but somehow he possessed the rare ability to make someone feel better with hardly any effort.

"Yeah, you're right. Come on, guys."

I noticed that Pony was getting awful antsy. He kept looking behind him and all around him as we walked. He was shaking like a leaf, too.

"Pony, it'll be fine. Calm down, kid." I put my arm around his shoulders.

"But first Dally - Dally, of all people! - disappeared, and now Trudy's been kidnapped! How can I calm down?" His voice shook so much it almost scared me.

"I'm not entirely sure, kiddo, but you just gotta. We're going to work everything out. Trust me."

We turned the corner onto our street, and even from how far down from our house we were, I could see a person sitting on the porch steps. _Dallas, I swear…_

Johnny saw him, too. "Is that Dallas?"

"Hold your horses, Johnny. Don't act too excited to see him, or he'll think he's getting off easy, and trust me, he ain't."

Johnny and Pony restrained themselves pretty well, until we got to the front yard.

"Dally!" Johnny did indeed run up to him, as I had expected.

"Hey, Johnnycakes. Hey, Pony," Dally calmly greeted the two. "Hey, Two-Bit. Get it over with."

I shook my head. "You are so busted."

Dally nodded. "Figured. Where's Trudy?"

"About that…" my voice trailed off.

Dally jumped up and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Where is she? The kidnappers got her, didn't they?"

"How did you know about them?" Pony asked.

"Well, I happen to know the first kid they got."

"What the heck are you talking about?" I demanded.

"So I was at the Shepard's house, right? And Tim told Curly not to come to the party, 'cause he was grounded. But what a surprise! Curly came anyway. He did a pretty good job avoiding Tim, until he got into a fight with some other guy. Tim broke up the fight and got onto Curly right then and there. So Curly ran out. Now, get this: the cops came around the neighborhood earlier that day to tell people there had been some suspicious activity in the area the night before, so they shouldn't be out late. Some people told Tim he'd better go after Curly so he didn't get himself murdered or something. Tim told them it'd be good for some neighborhood creep to teach the little brat a lesson. We kept partying, but a few minutes later, we heard a yell and then tires screeching. Curly didn't come home all night!"

Dally started laughing at that point. I didn't see anything particularly funny about it. Normally, I probably would, but not when my own sister had also been kidnapped.

"Yeah, and you know who else didn't come home all night? Who scared the crap out of his younger siblings who look up to him and care about his safety? You know who that was?" I said.

"Two, I just got a little drunk and figured it'd be best if I stayed there for the night, what with my drunkenness and a crazy guy on the streets."

"Yeah sure, a little," I muttered.

"Tell me now, though, where's Trudy? Did they take her?"

"Yeah."

Dally cursed and paced back and forth a few times.

"Boys!" Mom's call interrupted the quiet. "Is that you?"

"Oh no. She ain't gonna be happy," Pony said.

The kidnappers took me to a house at the edge of some woods. Drab and dark, the place appeared to have been empty for years. It was a two-story house, and lots of the windows were at least partially broken.

"Quit starin' and get out," one of the men commanded.

I got out of the car, and the men led me to the front door. Before we entered, one of them grabbed my arm and turned me to face him.

"Listen here, kid. If you think you'll be able to escape us, by any means, you are dead wrong. Girl, you're shakin' like you got the chills, stop. We didn't kidnap you to hurt you; torturing someone ain't worth all the effort it takes. We just want the ransom money," he said.

"If you want ransom money, why didn't you kidnap someone rich?" I questioned.

"Because we know your parents can't pay it, and we like what we get to do when that happens," he said.

"What's that?" I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Oh, you'll find out. Now get inside."

He opened the door and roughly pushed me inside. The inside of the house featured peeling wallpaper, stained carpet, and practically destroyed furniture. If I hadn't been so frightened, I would have asked if they purposefully made the place look as cliche as possible.

"You're back?" A voice called. Another man, who looked younger than the other three, came into the room. "I hope this kid behaves better than the other one. He's been a world of trouble since the moment you three left."

"Is that so?" The man whom I assumed to be the leader asked.

"I had to rough him up a few times to contain him."

"I thought you didn't want to hurt us," I said.

"We didn't kidnap you specifically to hurt you, but we ain't afraid to hurt you if we need to," the man sneered. "Capiche?"

I nodded.

"Look how scared she is," one man said. He was absolutely hideous. I mean, horribly ugly, just awful. I shudder now to even think of him. Imagine for yourself what you will; nothing will compare.

"I'm not scared," I said, hoping I didn't sound as scared as I lied not to be.

"Yes, you are." The man ran his hand through my hair. Gross! I jerked away.

"Oh, there's no need to be afraid of us. We're not all that terrible," another man, this one very tall and skinny, said, stepping closer to me.

"Leave me alone!"

The leader pushed the two away. "You hear that boys? She wants to be left alone. Sorry, sweetheart, but we don't have enough rooms to leave you completely alone."

I doubted that. This house was big.

"But, we can leave you with our other victim. Maybe you can make a friend. Come on."

He grabbed my arm again, as if I could run away at this point, and pulled me down the hall and up the stairs. On the way, he informed me that the other kid was a boy about my age.

"Shouldn't bother you to be alone with a boy, what with you living with four smelly ones."

The part of me that loved my brothers wanted to defend them and say that they weren't smelly, but the part of me that valued honesty decided not to.

The man took me to the end of a hallway upstairs and opened a door. He shoved me inside.

"Have a good time, little girl."

I stared at the door after he locked it. My heart beat so quickly I thought it would catapult out of my chest. What would Dally do? But Dally wouldn't end up here in the first place. And if he did, he'd beat the crap out of these guys, which I could not do.

"Trudy? Is that you?"

I jumped, having forgotten that someone else was in here with me. I turned around and found myself staring at Curly Shepard.

 _What on Earth?_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Yeah, I know… I took forever to update again. Thanks for reading anyway, and for all of the reviews. I'm planning to binge-write while on the road tomorrow and Sunday, so I'll be able to post regularly again. Things are about to get fun in this story. Enjoy!_

We all hesitated to go inside and talk to Mom, knowing full well that she would be very angry. I didn't think she'd be mad that her only daughter had been kidnapped; I thought she'd be mad about having to deal with finding her. I'd lived long enough to know that saving a kidnapped child in real life doesn't always go the way it does in movies. I'd also lived long enough to know that Mom would hate all the time and effort it would take to get Trudy back.

"Two-Bit, how are we going to tell Mom?" Pony asked. There was that shaky voice again.

Dallas answered before I could. "We aren't going to tell her anything. She probably wouldn't even care."

Johnny's black eyes widened, fear revealing itself within them. "You really don't think

she'd care about this?"

I jumped in before Dally could scare him or Pony any more. "Johnny, she'll care. She may be a jerk, but Trudy's her daughter. How could she not care?"

"Just you watch," Dally said.

 _Ok, that's it._

I yanked Dally away from Pony and Johnny.

"You've got to change the attitude, man. You're in a world of trouble as it is, and the sass

isn't helping. Look, I get that you were drunk last night, but you could've asked someone to drive you home. Trudy set her alarm for the middle of the night so she could get up and see if you came back. She doesn't know I know; kid thinks she's quieter than she is. I don't think any of those kids slept well last night, and I didn't either. You can't just run off and not come back. It's not good for us, and it sure as heck isn't good for you. Quit rolling your eyes, Dal."

"You just need to chill out, Two," Dally said, rolling his eyes again.

"No! Don't you ever stay out all night again, understand? If not for the sake of obeying, at least do it for your little brothers and sister. Okay?" I looked Dally dead in the eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Fine."

"Good. And here's the other thing: maybe Mom won't care. But you can't say things like

that in front of them." I pointed to Pony and Johnny. "They're scared enough of her as it is; don't make it worse."

"Whatever, man. I'm just preparing them for the truth. But hey, it doesn't matter either way. We don't need her, or the cops. I'll take down the filthy guys myself."

I did not doubt that he would try. Dallas possessed two types of anger. The first was an

explosive anger. It lit up in a second and bred disaster and chaos. When Dally exploded, he was uncontrollable; no one could stop him from attacking. Dally was reckless and unpredictable when he was explosive. This anger was the more frequently displayed of the two.

But the second kind of anger was a festering anger. It started slowly, being sparked by an incident and growing until it finally peaked. It was planned, meditated, not just a spur of the moment lashing out. I feared this anger far more than the other, and it was this anger that now controlled Dally.

"Come on, guys, we're going inside. And let _me_ do the talking," I said.

"Curly?" I was so confused.

"Yep, it's me. Little Curly Shepard done got himself kidnapped. Go ahead, laugh," he said.

Most people would have laughed. Curly Shepard had quite the reputation, part of which was earned simply by being Tim Shepard's brother. Tim led his own gang, of which Curly was a part. This told everyone at least one thing about Curly: he was tough. And trust me, even if you didn't know he was in a gang, you could tell he was a tough kid. It was like he boiled all his emotions down to anger and hated the world. Mean and aggressive, he differed little from any other teenage gang member. But somehow I didn't find it funny that he had been kidnapped. If anything, it bothered me, and I couldn't put a finger on why.

"It's not that funny," I said.

"Funny or not, this sucks," Curly replied.

"Yeah, it does. How long have you been here?" I sat down across from him on the floor.

"Since last night and I already hate it, imagine that. These dudes are intense, girl. I suggest you keep your pretty mouth shut, stay out of their way, and do whatever they tell you to."

So that was how it was going to be. He wasn't going to take me seriously. _Look, I get it,_ I wanted to say. _I'm a sweet, petite, female weakling._ The thing was, I didn't want to make him more ticked off than he obviously already was. So I would say this nicely. You see, I really was a sweet girl, and I had grown to understand that most people would not take me seriously given that I was five feet tall, female, and supposedly innocent, carefree, and naive. But, they always forgot one thing, or rather, four. My brothers. I lived with four insane, tough brothers who taught me everything I know about defending myself, and even attacking someone should the need arise. I could hold my own, and I was clever. Curly needed to know that.

"Curly, I will not keep my mouth shut, I will not stay out of their way, and I will not do whatever they tell me to. I am just as tough as you. I am definitely smarter than you, and I am very skilled at moving about unseen," I explained as calmly as I could. I got frustrated easily when I was nervous, and at the moment, I was definitely that. Wonder why? (Also, my skills at moving about unseen were a direct result of all the games of hide-and-seek we played at the arcade.)

"Please, you're just a little girl," Curly scoffed.

"Fine. If that's what you think, let me prove you wrong. Fight me." I stood up, ready to fight him.

Curly stared up at me, sarcasm practically shooting out of his eyes like lasers. "You really think I'm going to fight you?"

"You'd better. Stand up."

Curly sighed. "Fine, but when you lose, remember whose idea this was."

"Will do."

I popped my knuckles and prepared myself to fight.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: I feel like this chapter is kind of short, but I had so much fun writing it, and I think y'all will love reading it (especially what Dally says!). Everything in this chapter came to me so clearly, and I felt like my fingers were flying over the keys. (That's the best feeling ever for a writer!) So, without further ado, here is Chapter 10…_

A miniscule part of me wondered for a split second whether or not this was a good idea, but I reassured myself with the facts that Curly and I were about the same size and that my brothers had trained me well. Victory would crown me, and if it did not, I would accept my fate as a loser with dignity.

"So do we just… start?" Curly asked.

"Have you never been in a fight?" I replied mockingly.

"Not with a girl," he sneered.

"It's no different than with a boy, stupid." To demonstrate my point, I punched him in the jaw.

"Hey!"

"What? Can't handle a little girl?"

Curly growled and threw a punch at me, but I easily dodged it, having anticipated it. I did not, however, anticipate the sweeping kick he used to knock me off my feet and onto my butt. As Curly leaned over me, about to punch me, I sprung up and headbutted him in the gut. He doubled over, clutching his stomach. I knew he didn't hurt that much. My headbutts weren't that strong, and I was aware of that. He was just faking to make me pause while he caught his breath. Sadly for poor, unsuspecting Curly Shepard, I would show no mercy. Yet. I wasn't _that_ horrible.

We cautiously entered the house. And here's the thing: I told my brothers to let me do the talking, but I didn't know what talking to do. I mean, how do you tell your mean mother that her only daughter has been kidnapped and that you couldn't do anything to stop it? I wished upon every ounce of luck I had ever had in my life that she wouldn't be mad at me for not being able to save Trudy. Let me tell you, I was beating myself up over it enough without her help.

Mom saw us coming, and as we approached her in the living room, her face became suspicious looking.

"Where is Trudy?"

I stepped forward, praying that she would not see my worry. This wasn't exactly something I was used to; I was the happiest kid in the house. I played everything off like it was just a byproduct of this wild ride called "life," and I would have to do that now. But without sounding like I didn't care about my sister. Man, was I nervous.

"She isn't here," I said.

"Two-Bit, don't state the obvious like that. You know what I mean. Where is she?"

"I don't know exactly."

Mom glared at me. "What do you mean you don't know 'exactly?'"

"I know who she is with, but not where they all are." To be quite honest, my stalling wasn't helping as much as I had hoped it would. This sucked.

"Two-Bit, tell me the truth now!"

I took a deep breath. "Mom, this may scare you, but it's nothing that can't be taken care of with proper help. While we were walking home from school, these guys pulled up in front of us. Well, in front of Trudy. She had raced ahead of us, and I was chasing her. Anyway, these three guys got out of their car and took her. I tried to stop them, Mom, I really did, but-"

"Stop right there," Mom interrupted. "I do not want to hear your excuses. It isn't your fault the child was kidnapped."

This response surprised me. She almost sounded… understanding?

"It's her own fault."

Nope. Definitely not understanding.

"The heck are you talkin' 'bout?!" Dallas yelled, pushing past me.

Dally's rage did not faze Mom in the slightest. "I'm talking about how Trudy has finally gotten herself in enough trouble to teach her a lesson. The girl's always off playing some stupid game - and often with you four as well - instead of doing homework or cleaning or-"

"You shut up!" Dally exclaimed. "You don't even care?! Your daughter was kidnapped, and you're okay with it because it will teach her a lesson? Yeah, it'll teach her a lesson: a lesson in being outright afraid because who knows what those guys plan to do to her! And you know something? She's running around outside playing because she has time because she's so stinking smart that she breezes through her homework because it's easy for her! Trudy's a genius! She even has time to help the rest of us with our homework, and I don't think we give her enough appreciation for that. And you sure as heck don't give her any appreciation for the crap she does for you! You treat her like a slave! And now you don't even care that some jerks just came along and freakin' kidnapped her!"

And here we see a shining example of Dally's explosive anger. Everyone fell completely silent as he lashed out at Mom, hurling his words at her faster than a cloud hurling raindrops onto the earth. Pony stared at the ground, unmoving, as if trying to be so still he would be invisible. Johnny stared at Dally, clearly in awe. He looked up to Dally almost too much. Yeah, Dal had the courage to holler at Mom like that, but that wasn't entirely a good characteristic.

When Dallas had finished, no one spoke for a moment. Finally, Mom stormed out of the room to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"I hope you're feeling guilty!" Dally called after her.

"I most certainly am not, you worthless juvenile!"

At that, Pony turned and ran out of the house through the back door. I started to call for him to come back, but I knew where he would be when I needed him.

I put my hand on Johnny's shoulder. Dally was panting and looked angrier than I'd ever seen him.

"Dal, Johnny and I will be upstairs. Come see us when you're ready," I said quietly.

"No, Two, I'm gonna stay here with Dally," Johnny said.

I wanted to protest, but I knew how much Dally loved Johnny. Having him around would help calm Dally down. I sighed and went to check on Ponyboy.

I easily won the fight. Okay, not completely "easily." Curly was a good fighter, too. After all, he had learned from Tim and from experience. I now stood with my hands on my hips, while Curly lay on his back panting.

"Alright, fine. You can fight," Curly admitted.

"Mmm hmm. And?" I sounded mean to myself, but honestly, being this snarky made me feel tough, which was exactly how I needed to feel considering that I'd been kidnapped.

"And you can help me plan an escape," Curly moaned.

"Ok. Great."

I sat down and reached my hand out to him. He shook it somewhat begrudgingly.

"So," I started, now feeling less like I needed to be on the defensive, "where do we start?"


	11. Chapter 11

"I say we make this as simple as possible; we don't try to be all impressive," Curly said.

"Yes. I was thinking we could climb out of a window. We'll have to check them all."

"Already done. Not a single one is unlocked and a lot of them have bars so that you can't climb out. We need something else."

"A crowbar, perhaps?" I smirked.

"No kidding. Actually, can you pick a lock?" Culy asked.

I pulled a bobby pin out of my hair. "You bet I can."

Pretty soon, we had a fully developed plan. Curly knew from the night before that the kidnappers kept guard outside the room all night, switching out every few hours. During one of those switches, I would pick the lock and we would escape. We hoped.

…

I found Ponyboy right where I expected to. Back when we were kids, Dad built us a treehouse in this enormous oak tree in our backyard. The treehouse was spacious enough for us and our cousins to be in it together. We called it Fort Neverland because kids never grew up in Neverland, and we never wanted to grow up. We spend whole afternoons in Fort Neverland. The older we got, though, the less enchanting it became. Naming something Neverland doesn't make it the real Neverland. But for Ponyboy and Trudy, that treehouse never lost its magic.

I climbed up the ladder into Fort Neverland and crawled in through the trap door. Silently, I sat down next to Pony. Still as a stone, he stared at the floor without acknowledging me. I hadn't expected him to; he didn't talk much, and if he needed to say something, he would.

After a few minutes, I decided to tap the ice. "You ok, kid?"

"Yeah, just full of glee."

I chuckled at that. The kid could be as sarcastic as me sometimes.

Pony sighed in frustration. "Seriously, this sucks. I mean, what are we supposed to do about it? Mom'll just about kill us if we go to the police and Dad won't have an answer. There's nothing we can do!"

"There is. But hey, who's to say Dad won't have a solution?"

"You really think he's gonna take care of this? All he does is work. He doesn't have time for us any more."

"Pony, that's not true. Now look, if Dad doesn't know what to do, then we'll grab the cousins and we'll look for Trudy ourselves. We're gonna get her back, I promise. And I guess we may as well rescue Curly while we're at it."

Pony laughed. "Maybe. Tim might appreciate it."

"Dad's home!" I looked out of the treehouse window to see Johnny standing on the back porch.

We all met Dad in the living room. Mom was still in her room. Dad stopped as he walked in.

"Is something going on? You're usually all doing homework at this point," Dad said.

"You bet there's something-"

"Dallas, let me," I interjected.

"Dad, it's about Trudy. She, well- She got kidnapped."

The thud of Dad's briefcase hitting the floor resounded throughout the room. Dad's stricken face matched that of someone whose true love had just died.

"You can't be serious. This is one of your jokes, isn't it, Two-Bit? Tell me this is a joke."

"It's not a joke. Dad, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

Why was I apologizing? Oh, I don't know, maybe because I was sorry that I couldn't stop this from happening. Maybe because I was sorry that Trudy was gone. Maybe because I was sorry that I wasn't good enough, that I didn't try hard enough, that I let them take her.

"Because this is all my fault! Look, that's beside the point. You've gotta help us save her," I said.

"It's not your fault, son," Dad said quietly. "We need to go to the police, now."

That was when Mom came in.

"Don't you dare go to the police!"

I placed my hand firmly on Dallas's shoulder to hold him back from doing anything stupid.

"If you go to the police, the whole divorce issue is going to come up again!"

"What does the divorce have to do with anything? Why would that come up?" Dallas demanded.

"Because any time something dramatic happens to a child from this neighborhood, the police assume it had something to do with the child's unfortunate, low-income parents. They'll get all up in our personal business and the next thing you know, the whole story is out and once they have Trudy safe and sound, they'll whisk you all away to who knows where," Mom said.

"Would you even-"

I slapped my hand over Dally's mouth before he could finish the question. "Just don't, Dally. No more," I whispered.

"What do you think, Dad?" Pony asked.

I pleaded silently that Dad would be strong, be the man of the house, and tell his wife "no" for once. He always gave in to her; he always let her have her way, and all because he couldn't stand her being mad at him. But surely he cared more about Trudy than about avoiding Mom's anger. Right?

Dad answered slowly, "I think your mother is right. I don't want to risk you kids being separated and put into the hands of Social Services."

"They won't even ask about the divorce! They'll do their job and try to find where Trudy is!" I exclaimed.

"Two-Bit, I know you're upset. I understand-"

"No, you don't understand! You don't understand me and you don't understand-" I stopped abruptly, remembering that my siblings were in the room.

Turning sharply, I stormed out of the room. I wanted so badly to tell him that he didn't understand how to be a father. I hoped that would knock into his head the fact that he was messing up big time. But as the oldest, I couldn't be that disrespectful in front of my siblings. Besides, would it really do any good? It didn't matter. The discussion was over. We boys would have to save Trudy on our own.


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12_

 _A/N: I realize I left without a trace and only left a note in my bio as to my whereabouts (Nanowrimo writing). I left all other writing aside during November to work on my novel. It's not finished yet, but I have since resumed writing other things as well, including this piece of fanfiction! I plan to continue updating as regularly as I can (what with school being my top priority), and I hope you enjoy reading the rest of this story. Thank you so so much for the patience!_

My stomach growled for about the hundredth time. Groaning and staring at the ceiling, I wished for food. The kidnappers hadn't bothered to feed us anything, and it was late in the afternoon, probably around six thirty, Curly supposed. As a matter of fact, they hadn't bothered to do anything with us. They just stuck us in this room and left us. It made no sense to me. Why would they kidnap us and just keep us here? Did it please them to know that their victims' families were worried sick? Was that the only reason they kidnapped people, for fear? I had plenty of time to think about things and ask myself questions that afternoon.

Curly and I didn't talk much. We weren't exactly friends. He and Pony got along well, and hung out sometimes, but I didn't like him very much. He just wasn't the kind of boy I wanted to be close to. He was too rough, too mean. See, Tim Shepard's gang was more than a tight-knit group of friends. They were all friends because they were all outcasts and rebels. They caused trouble together too often, and ended up in jail or reformatories because of it. Two-Bit didn't like me hanging around any of them, so I didn't.

There was my stomach growling again. Curly looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Hungry much?"

"Yeah, aren't you?"

Curly shook his head. "You don't know much about being hungry. Your body doesn't get hungry as easily after it's gotten used to missing meals here and there. Sometimes it's more pleasant to go hungry than to eat jail food, and sometimes you just don't get a meal. It happens to some of us. So no, I'm not hungry."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"You wouldn't."

Did he think my life was perfect or something?

"I may not know what it's like to go hungry and get arrested and stuff like that, but you don't know what it's like to deal with my problems either. Everyone has it rough someway or another."

"I guess so."

My stomach growled yet again, and I had to ask, "Have they let you eat anything since they brought you here?"

Curly laughed. "Well, they did after I forcibly reminded them that human beings require food. They don't have to know I can tolerate hunger."

"We oughta 'forcibly remind' them again," I said. Even though I doubted they'd feed us anything decent, I wanted food so badly. That was one good thing I got at my house - good food. Mom didn't realize it, but she cooked really well. Not quite restaurant quality, but pretty close.

"Be my guest. I get the vibe that if I bug them any more than I already did today, I'll get it pretty bad. But they aren't mad at you yet."

I nodded and approached the door. I tested the handle just in case. It was still locked, of course. I put my ear against the door. The voices I heard seemed to be coming from downstairs.

"They're downstairs," I told Curly.

I remembered what Two-Bit had told me about Dally's temper tantrums as a kid. When Dally didn't get what he wanted and got sent to his room, he would pound on the door and scream and yell and demand to get his way. Granted, Mom and Dad wouldn't let him get his way most of the time, but it might work for me now.

I began pounding on the door.

"Hey! We're hungry up here!" I shouted.

The voiced downstairs quieted for a moment, then got loud again. So, I continued pounding on the door and yelling at them to get up there. Finally, after a couple of minutes, I heard footsteps getting closer. I still didn't stop banging on the door until I heard a voice just outside of it.

"What? What do you brats want?" the angry voice demanded.

Oh no. What if this was a bad idea? What if they got mad at me for acting like this and hurt me? What would they do to me? A part of me wanted to back out; maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be hungry.

 _You'll never know if you don't take a chance. You'll never know if it would've worked if you don't try it._

Dally's words came to me like sunlight bursting forth through the clouds, and I found the courage to go on.

"We were just wondering if you planned on giving us anything to eat," I said, pushing the fear out of my voice as well as I could. I hoped I sounded calm.

"You'll get what's left when we're finished."

"Ok, great." I should've said something snarky. I quickly added, "It better be soon. We're hungry." Still not snarky, but at least it was demanding. We wanted to get our way, and they needed to know that.

"Oh, it'll be soon enough, your royal nuisance," the voice said.

I heard footsteps walking away and down the stairs. I sighed and went back to sit down against the wall again. I wanted to pace back and forth, but Curly had told me to knock it off before he knocked me off my feet and gave me a concussion last time, and anyway, I needed to save my energy for our escape tonight.

"Nice. I would've done better, but not bad," Curly commented.

"Gee, thanks."

…

That night, I discussed my plan with my brothers. I hadn't shown up to dinner. Dal said no one ate at the table; they all got their own food and ate wherever they wanted, which was far from everyone else. I had spent my time in Fort Neverland. I don't know why; somehow it helped me think, though.

Anyway, around ten thirty, I gathered the guys in my room to tell them the general plan I had in my head.

"Alright, so we've lost Dad on this. We're the only ones who can do anything about saving Trudy," I started.

Ponyboy raised his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Curtis?" I said.

"Why can't we go to the police ourselves?"

I started to reply, but Dally interrupted. "Because why would they believe a bunch of teenage kids like us? They wouldn't. Besides, I'm pretty sure they would accept a missing persons report until forty-eight hours after the person went missing. We can't spare that much time. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself. We're doing this alone."

I nodded. "What he said. Now, we're going to need Steve and Soda and Darry helping us, too. We'll get them in on it tomorrow. We'll split up and search the city. We gotta check every sketchy place we can find and go around to every neighborhood and ask people if they've noticed anything suspicious going on in the area."

"That'll take forever," Johnny said.

"I know, but do you have a better option?"

Johnny shook his head.

"Then this is what we have to do."

…

"You think this is gonna work?"

"No."

I looked at Curly to see if he was joking, but his face was as serious as I'd ever seen it.

"I really don't, but we have to try. There's not much else we can do," he said.

I nodded. We weren't sure what time it was, but it had been dark out for a few hours, and we were tired of sitting around doing nothing, so we figured now was as good a time as ever to try to escape.

"Let's listen," I said.

We silently went to the door and put our ears against it. Ever so faintly came the sound of breathing just outside. Curly had told me earlier that the kidnappers literally sat right by the door. Creepy. Whoever was outside the door moved, and then we heard footsteps.

I pulled my lock-picking contraption out of my pocket. I had taken both of the bobby pins out of my hair and twisted them so that I could use them to pick the lock. It's not too hard of a process, and I had practiced it at home for fun, so I was confident that I could pick this lock.

Curly nodded at me to start picking the lock. The guard was far enough away now that it was safe to do this without worrying about noise. My time was limited, though. Hopefully the next guy would take a while to wake up. I fidgeted with the lock and heard it clicking. I was so close, but then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see Curly motioning for stop. He pointed at the door, and I listened just in time to hear someone sit down in the chair by the door. Great. I motioned for him to come closer so I could whisper something to him. He leaned in so that his ear was almost touching my lips. Gross. But you do what you gotta do to escape the clutches of kidnappers, right?

"If I move the bobby pins, I'll have to start over again next time. I have to hold them still like this," I whispered.

"Fantastic. You'll have to stay here for quite a while, then," he whispered back. "Couldn't you have been faster?"

"Well, I'm sorry! Just shut up and - and I don't know, just shut up."

"Fine. Be that way."

Curly walked away and sat down. I stayed still, not letting go of our chance to escape.

…

 _Just in case anyone was wondering, you actually can pick a lock with bobby pins! It's hard to explain, but there's videos online that show how. It doesn't look too hard. I might have to try sometime, you know, just for fun._


End file.
